Amy's Running Story - Part I

Hi everyone,
I wrote this series of posts (yes, this is going to be another three-part entry) a while ago, and I am thinking I should probably share them before they get too outdated.  I got the idea to write my running story from my friend Tory, who also has a blog.  You can read her running story starting here.

First of all, I have never been a runner.  I still don't consider myself a runner, even though I run two or three times a week and sign up for 5Ks.  But lately running has been sort of demystified for me.  It has become less "something that you're born with" and more "slowly but surely, it can happen".

The earliest memories I have of running is doing the mile in gym class in 3rd or 4th grade.  I remember not even finishing in the time allotted, and my kind and sympathetic gym teacher calling me back inside.

4th Grade Amy

 Then in 6th grade I got a C in gym.  This is the only C I have ever gotten as a final grade in a class in my entire life.  I imagine it was because the teacher thought I wasn't really trying, but the truth was I was just so awkward and not at all sporty.

6th Grade Amy

 After these experiences, I was convinced that I couldn't play sports and that I definitely couldn't run.  The closest I got to breaking this assumption was in 8th grade, I believe, when I somehow managed to run the mile in 10:05.  I was proud of myself, but it never went any farther than that.

When I was a sophomore in high school I tried out for the dance team.  The way it worked at my high school was that the JV cheerleading team branched off and became the varsity tumble and dance teams.  So I didn't make it onto the dance team, but I did make the JV cheer team.  This wasn't entirely what I had intended, but I decided to just go with it.

When we began practicing that summer, the first thing we would do each day was run a mile outside around the school.  Both the JV and varsity teams ran together, and if not everyone finished in under 8 minutes, we had to do sprints.  So there was an element of peer pressure, and I eventually got my mile down to under 8 minutes.  However, I didn't run at all in the off season, and I lost all of this gain.

The next year we had a new coach, and instead of running a mile at the beginning of each practice, we would run 15 minutes or so through the halls of the school to warm up.  For some reason, I never got to the point where this 15 minutes felt comfortable, and I hated every minute of it.  I hated that all the other cheerleaders seemed comfortable running, and I didn't understand why I had to feel so breathless while they flew.

I pushed myself through all of this, so I could keep competing, which is what I loved about cheerleading.  After the second year though, this wasn't even worth it anymore.  I was burned out on stunting and trying to learn any sort of tumbling.  I decided to stop and focus on taking dance classes, which I had always wanted to do, but had never had the stick-to-it-ness until high school.

In 2007  I came to Nebraska for college, and I kept taking dance classes as a dance minor at UNL.  I went to the Rec Center a few times with my roommate and a couple of our friends to do the Super Circuit (weight lifting and cardio in stations), but only a few times.  I gained the freshman 20 thanks to the all-you-can-eat dining hall.  I was dancing twice a week, but that just wasn't enough.

Throughout my college years, I went through a couple weight fluctuations.  I lost about 15 pounds when I studied abroad in Germany during my sophomore year, since I was taking the train and walking instead of driving everywhere.  But I gained it all back when I came back.  Then without really trying, I lost it all again in the months before my wedding.  But I gained it all back starting with the honeymoon and all the eating out we were doing during that time.

I went through a couple more stages of working out at the Rec, but it never really stuck until Tory and I became workout buddies last January.  It was my first semester of grad school, and Tory and I were in the same German class that met on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  We decided to go to the Rec together most days after class...

Well, that's it for part one.  Stay tuned for Part II, a.k.a. Amy Actually Runs!